I've
mentioned
Vodafone Germany'sWebSessions
before, when I used it as my WWAN option during last month's Mobile World
Congress in Barcelona. With WebSessions, Vodafone Germany introduced a quite
handy service which lets you use the Internet on a pay as you go option, with
prepaid and postpaid contracts. While it offers unlimited data transfer within
Germany (for either 30 minutes, 1 hour or 24 hours), Vodafone WebSessions
International, which
works in around 35 Vodafone partner networks around the world, is limited to
50 MB per WebSessions (while only the 24 hours WebSessions for 14.95 Euro is
available in international roaming).

As I'm currently in Austria with my new
Option GlobeTrotter GT MAX HSUPA PCMCIA Modem Card, I've used WebSessions in
the A1 network here and it works brilliant. While in this part of the valley
where I'm, neither UMTS nor HSDPA is available, Austria's A1 offers EDGE in the
whole network which is quite for working remotely:

And 14.95 Euro for 24 hours isn't a bad deal neither, if you use it
professionally. Nevertheless, there is no real reason why WebSessions
International has to cost 14.95 Euro if the domestic 24 hours WebSessions is now
available for 7.95 Euro only but anyway - for professional use WebSessions is an
interesting alternative to local prepaid SIM cards. But the 50 MB limit is
definitely insane since you reach it too fast. What can you do with 50 MB? An
average video on the::unwired has 20 MB, I'm getting press release E-Mails with
2 to 3 MB attachments and most websites are loaded with images and photos. If
you just use the 50 MB for E-Mail, it might be sufficient but as soon as you are
opening the web browser you have reached the limit quite soon.

I understand that Vodafone Germany cannot/doesn't want to offer the same flat
data amount in international roaming as it offers it in its own network but the
50 MB limit is way too restrictive. I would vote for at least 250 MB, especially
if I pay 14.95 Euro for a session. Sure, if I have reached the 50 MB limit, I
can buy a second or even a third WebSessions but this costs another 14.95 Euro
each and then you come to the question of value for money.
It's always frustrating to see how operators create great services which are
killed at the moment the service gets a price tag. WebSessions is innovative and
quite unique but why does it has to be so expensive/feature limited in
international roaming? With prices and limitations like this - we are
(unfortunately) still far away from mass-market ready data services but I have
some confidence that carriers will get it sooner or later as well.

Hi Arne, I agree. I'm also using WebSessions if I'm on a business trip and if I sync my Lotus Notes with our Notes server, I've reached the 50 MB fast.Not sure what 50 MBs are worth for? It's a great data option for my VPA but as soon as I use the VPA as a Notebook modem I have to buy up to 3 seesions within 24 hours.